Retail“Welcome to Rockwell Land,” writes Deborah Solomon in the introduction to this spirited and authoritative biography of the painter who provided twentieth-century America with a defining image of itself. As the star illustrator of The Saturday Evening Post for nearly half a century, Norman Rockwell mingled fact and fiction in paintings that reflected the we-the-people, communitarian ideals of American democracy. Freckled Boy Scouts and their mutts, sprightly grandmothers, a young man standing up to speak at a town hall meeting, a little black girl named Ruby Bridges walking into an all-white school—here was an America whose citizens seemed to believe in equality and gladness for all.Who was this man who served as our unofficial “artist in chief” and bolstered our country’s national identity? Behind the folksy, pipe-smoking façade lay a surprisingly complex figure—a lonely painter who suffered from depression and was consumed by a sense of inadequacy. He wound up in treatment with the celebrated psychoanalyst Erik Erikson. In fact, Rockwell moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts so that he and his wife could be near Austen Riggs, a leading psychiatric hospital. “What’s interesting is how Rockwell’s personal desire for inclusion and normalcy spoke to the national desire for inclusion and normalcy,” writes Solomon. “His work mirrors his own temperament—his sense of humor, his fear of depths—and struck Americans as a truer version of themselves than the sallow, solemn, hard-bitten Puritans they knew from eighteenth-century portraits.”Deborah Solomon, a biographer and art critic, draws on a wealth of unpublished letters and documents to explore the relationship between Rockwell’s despairing personality and his genius for reflecting America’s brightest hopes. “The thrill of his work,” she writes, “is that he was able to use a commercial form [that of magazine illustration] to thrash out his private obsessions.” In American Mirror, Solomon trains her perceptive eye not only on Rockwell and his art but on the development of visual journalism as it evolved from illustration in the 1920s to photography in the 1930s to television in the 1950s. She offers vivid cameos of the many famous Americans whom Rockwell counted as friends, including President Dwight Eisenhower, the folk artist Grandma Moses, the rock musician Al Kooper, and the generation of now-forgotten painters who ushered in the Golden Age of illustration, especially J. C. Leyendecker, the reclusive legend who created the Arrow Collar Man.Although derided by critics in his lifetime as a mere illustrator whose work could not compete with that of the Abstract Expressionists and other modern art movements, Rockwell has since attracted a passionate following in the art world. His faith in the power of storytelling puts his work in sync with the current art scene. American Mirror brilliantly explains why he deserves to be remembered as an American master of the first rank. ** Views: 17
“I know what’s going to happen if I sit down.”He leaned forward, and quietly said, “Do I make you nervous?”“Of course you do. You’ve got a way about you.”“It’s not me, it’s you. I don’t usually make women nervous, and I have to be honest when I tell you that you make me just as nervous.”“Why would I make you nervous?”“Because I like you. Fully clothed or naked, I like you -- though I prefer naked.” Working two jobs this last summer at home, Rory is almost entirely focused on the road that will take her out of her rural community and toward a future that doesn’t involve waiting tables or tending bar at the local resort hotel. For her, life begins when she leaves.Everything changes when she’s knocked off her bike by Noah Hyland’s fancy car. Her boss’s son has a reputation for being an arrogant womanizer, but in Noah, Rory starts to see someone trying to find his way in the world … someone like her.It wasn’t supposed to be a complicated summer. She wasn’t supposed to fall in love Views: 17
Warning: For Mature Adult Audiences. Contains wording and actions some may deem offensive. Sexually explicit content. Ménage – MFM In book one of Masters of the Prairie Winds Club: Tobi Stobel’s life is a never-ending string of disasters interrupted by an occasional bit of chaos. The small magazine she works for is looking for any excuse to trim their staff and Tobi is next on the list unless she can land the interview with the sexy owners of Texas’s newest and hottest BDSM club. After a chance encounter with their mother, the interview is scheduled and Tobi is sure fate must have been on a break. With her job hanging in the balance, the little blonde bundle of energy isn’t about to let a little thing like a thunderstorm stand in her way. Kent West can’t decide who he should be the most frustrated with, the annoying reporter that has hounded him and his brother, Kyle, for weeks for an interview or his mother for insisting they grant Tobi Strobel’s request. But the weight of his exasperation swings toward the reporter when he fails to show up. When Kyle brings home a petite stunner and introduces her as the missing reporter, Kent is shocked and beyond pleased. Even soaking wet, the woman is spectacularly beautiful, but there is something else about her that captures both brothers’ interest. Fate hasn’t completely forgotten its grudge against Tobi, and its reluctance to let go not only endangers Tobi, but Kent and Kyle’s mom as well. The West brothers are convinced Tobi is the woman they’ve always dreamed of sharing, but a stalker threatens to snatch her out of their grasp. Keeping the little trouble magnet safe proves to be a challenge for the former Special Forces soldiers, and sometimes all the financial resources in the world aren’t enough to help—it all comes down to luck and timing. Views: 17
When it comes to gardening, Cassandra "Casey" Calhoun isn't afraid to get her hands dirty. But when it comes to murder, she's not the kind of gal to let any killer get away clean... Despite cooler fall temperatures in Washington, D.C., tempers flare at the White House when important historical documents go missing from the curator's office and the gardeners are blamed. As if that isn't bad enough, Casey has started receiving death threats, the president's pooch is digging unsightly holes all over the South Lawn, and the curator has been found dead. All evidence for the murder points to Gordon Sims, the chief gardener. His fingerprints are on the murder weapon, and witnesses saw him arguing with the curator shortly before her death. With the help of Special Agent Jack Turner, her reluctant sidekick and new flame, Casey works to clear Gordon's name. Along the way she finds herself in a deadly race against time to discover if there's a link between the stolen... Views: 17
All she wanted was to give him a child... Surviving a plane crash in the alpine forests of Australia sparks the beginning of a real connection between Dr. Will Cameron and nurse Meg Watson. A connection they delight in strengthening when Will finds himself helping Meg in her understaffed outback nursing center. But Meg knows that she has no chance of a future with Will. He wants what she is unable to give him— children. Then after one passionate night together... a miracle happens.... Views: 17
This illustrated novel is based on of Poptropica's most recent islands, Lunar Colony. Views: 17
After a vicious attack, Morgan Masters wakes up to find that nothing is how she remembers it. John Major isn't the prime minister anymore, the Millennium has been and gone, and it's been a very long time since she was in college.When Erin's worst fears become reality and her world crumbles around her, she has to pick up the pieces and start all over again.Can losing everything actually be the best thing that ever happened to Morgan? Can Erin learn to forgive the sins of the past and let her heart lead her head for a change?Or is happiness beyond their reach? Views: 17
Savannah 'Vann' Kelly knows the pain that love can bring, whether from family or a love lost. Being ripped from her home and forced to leave behind her boyfriend, has caused an ache she's unsure will ever heal. Five years later, Vann is back. While her day job is kept secret from most, the threat it poses throws her entire world off balance, putting her and those closest to her in danger. Deke Sullivan ’s life has been in a tailspin ever since his brother’s death. Everyone in his life has either betrayed or left him, making him who he is today. But behind his tough persona is still the man that craves the woman who left him all those years ago. One look into those blue-gray eyes sends his heart into overdrive, anger pulsating through him. Can Deke move past the hurt? Will what became of Vann's life after she left cause greater tragedy? Can first love prevail? Views: 17
Tracy Brock agrees to tutor transfer student Jimbo Maxwell so that he can be eligible to play for the Elmore High School football team. Though Jimbo is a country boy with a thick Southern drawl, he’s crucial to the team’s success. Tracy comes to appreciate Jimbo’s sense of humor and downright decency, but she’s determined not to become romantically involved with a boy whose future looks bleak. Young Adult Romance by Sheri Cobb South, author of Wrong-Way Romance Views: 17
Not the marrying kind? Staff nurse Maggie Carr had hated Luke Fabrizzi on sight and was irritated that everyone else worshiped the handsome new Italian senior resident. Their conflict had stemmed from resentment when Maggie's family had tried to introduce them with marriage in mind. When it dawned on Luke that they could avert their families by staging a relationship, Maggie agreed. It was a truce that led them to the root of their strong feelings and yet another battle—a fight against their real desires and emotions. Views: 17
